> Try this: http://www.answers.com/topic/alcohol-fuel
>
> My question: Assuming a sufficiently positive energy surplus could exist on
> a unit basis, how much farmland would it take to produce enough booze to run
> the U.S. vehicle fleet? Wouldn't it require something gargantuan?
It's simply not possible, even if you reduced consumption. I don't have access to the figures, but I've been told that alternative schemes like biodiesel and electric cars would never replace the current system because they require too much energy to produce energy. Corn doesn't just grow. It requires huge amounts of energy inputs, both on the growing and harvesting side and on the refining and transportation side.
Anybody else on this list ever detasseled corn as a teenager?
Chuck